


the world, the stars, and you

by tanyart



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, M/M, Pining, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cayde wasn’t stupid, but sometimes he felt like he ought to pretend for a while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the world, the stars, and you

It was no huge secret the Vanguard higher ups had always kept a casual running list of who would be next in line.  Cayde didn’t know which Guardians had been unlucky enough to make the cut and, really, the list was only an easy hack or two away, but he had no interest in the Vanguard beyond his usual assignments.  He had enough on his plate, and hacking a list of potential Guardian nominations for Hunter Vanguard seemed just like the wrong type attention to attract, even for him.

He told this much to Andal Brask, who only clunked him with the butt of his handgun and didn’t say much else.  (Understandable, since this was during a mission, and Brask had been wanting Cayde to shut up about five minutes ago.)

So, no, Cayde didn’t know who was on the list, but he could make a few guesses.  

At the time, he and Brask had been the best of the Hunters, so it was no big surprise to either of them when the Vanguards began to drop a few hints.  A few more messages from Ikora, a little more grumbling from Zavala, more specialized missions from them both–Cayde wasn’t stupid, but sometimes he felt like he ought to pretend for a while, at least until a new Hunter Vanguard was chosen.  It wasn’t like he wanted to be one of the best.  It just happened. It probably came with not wanting to die, he supposed. Not die and maybe brag a little about it.

The strongest were more likely to be nominated, but being the strongest did not necessarily mean having a good head for warfare tactics, military organization, or handling an intelligence network. All of which, Cayde had to admit, he and Brask had a little experience in each, mostly under duress. Because war could be like that sometimes.

Still, for all of Cayde’s qualifications, he wasn’t much of a people-person, and he didn’t take too easily with responsibility, all of which Zavala had been admonishing him for, so Cayde felt relatively safe from this Hunter Vanguard business.

The biggest surprised was Andal, though, who for some reason escaped Cayde’s notice for actually being noble. The realization tended to clash with their grab-and-run missions, treasure hunting, and making meat of the Fallen and Cabal. _Noble_ was a word for Titans like Zavala and Shaxx, not him and not for other Guardians who made a habit of hanging out with him.

“You’re not serious, are you?” Cayde asked, fully expecting Brask to answer with a punchline.

But Brask shrugged, and his voice was thoughtful over their private voicelink, “I think I can do some good.”

And Cayde had always known Andal Brask to be _good_. Good, like being a great shot with the rifle, good like knowing how to plant a knife where it would hurt the most. But then there was the other kind of _good_ that drove Cayde crazy sometimes; that same skill with a sniper rifle was a comfort over his shoulder, and that same hand whirling a beautiful backstab also a pair of vigilant eyes that watched your back.  

And, infuriatingly, Andal was also slightly quicker to turn around to help a fellow guardian, and to brush off the loss of a bounty because of it.  Things like that.

It wasn’t quite right to call Andal one-hundred percent morally upstanding but Cayde realized, for all accounts and purposes, Andal was a good person.  This miffed him more than it should have.  Like Andal had him beat, somehow.

Beat.  That was certainly a word.  Cayde had the deep suspicion that he was in love with Andal Brask.

Worst, Andal doing something stupid like accepting the Hunter Vanguard position was going to put Cayde in danger of confessing all sorts of things as equally, if not more, stupid.

“I think you’d be the best choice,” Cayde confessed immediately, much to his immense consternation.  He blamed it on the multi-tasking.  He was sighting down a Dreg with his scope.  The Dreg was moving a bit.

“Thanks, Cayde, that means a lot,” Andal said, sounding surprised, and didn’t say anything for the longest time.  Cayde was about to chalk it up to companionable silence, but then Andal gave a pointed cough and said, “You gonna get that Dreg, or should I?”

“No, no. I have it, I–there. Oops. There.”  

Cayde nearly missed, which would have been beyond embarrassing.  He heard Andal’s breath come out  in a quick huff of laughter, probably not meant for Cayde to hear, but that only meant his Ghost had been patching Andal’s voicelink on purpose.  The asshole.

“Spare me,” Cayde hissed.

“Two shots?” Andal shifted, moving in a quick blur from Cayde’s vision.  The Fallen were coming out of the woodwork now.  “That Vanguard job is as good as mine now.”

“Take it, I don’t want it,” Cayde said, and let Andal’s laughter fill his helmet over the sound of their gunfire.


End file.
